Sport-Blog.com

Prior to the Super Bowl, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher likely had the distinction of being the NFL's most successful active coach without winning the ultimate, the Super Bowl.

With Sunday's triumph, the man known as much for his stern jaw as his ability to motivate football players finally passes that distinction on to someone else in the NFL coaching brethren.

Prior to topping Seattle in Super Bowl XL, Cowher had already established an amazing coaching legacy. His mark encompasses longevity, wins, playoff appearances and division titles - and now of course includes a Super Bowl title.

In the longevity department, Cowher began the 2005 season as the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, his 14th season as head coach of the Steelers. The native of Pittsburgh had been named the 15th head coach in Steelers history when he replaced the legendary Chuck Noll in January of 1992. Already, Cowher's tenure with the Steelers ranks him ninth in NFL coaching history in regards to head coaching service with one team.

In 14 seasons under Cowher, the Steelers have now made ten playoff appearances. The team has tallied eight division titles, advanced to six AFC Championship games and made two appearances in the Super Bowl. He is one of just six coaches in NFL history with at least eight division titles.

In 1995, at age 38, Cowher became the youngest coach in NFL history to take a team to the Super Bowl. That year, the Steelers captured their third AFC Central Division title in four years and won their first AFC title since 1979.

Cowher was also just the second coach in NFL history to lead his team to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons as head coach, matching the legendary Paul Brown. Cowher became the 8th fastest coach in NFL history to win 50 regular-season games doing so in just his 73rd game. With Sunday's victory, Cowher now owns 153 wins as a head coach, 141 regular season and 12 in the playoffs, and trails only Chuck Noll (209 wins) on the Pittsburgh list. His 245 games coached also trails only Noll (366 games) on the total games list.

The Steelers head man also had previously earned several coaching awards including The Sporting News' Coach of the Year in 2004 and in 1992, his first season in the NFL , being voted Coach of the Year by both the Associated Press and The Sporting News. In that first season Cowher directed the Steelers to their first AFC Central Division crown in eight years.

Though he has consistently lost a number of free agents over the years, especially in the salary cap era, Cowher has had only three losing seasons in his fourteen year tenure. Still, before Sunday, he was known more for his failure to take home the Super Bowl championship, for getting his team in position but failing to deliver a title.

But in a game known more for its lousy officiating and Seattle's failure to manage the clock, Pittsburgh used a couple of gadget plays and a hard-nosed defense to finally take home the team's fifth Lombardi trophy, its first ever under Cowher. The stern-jawed coach still has a way to go to catch the legendary Knoll who earned four such titles, but for now he has removed that hated moniker.

Bill Cowher is no longer the best active NFL coach never to have won a Super Bowl.